Harrisonburg High School Band Boosters

Mon., Feb. 3, 2014

HHS Choral Room

Call to Order (Clark Upton, President)

Secretary’s Report (Brooke Blankenship) – January meeting minutes approved as is.

Treasurer’s Report (Louise Pierson)

Pepsi is reimbursing us $500 for unsold drinks. Concessions have not had much movement since it’s a slow time of year. We did make some income from concessions when HHS hosted the District V event at the end of January.

Old Business

Exposure Management Update (Dawn Wine Ruple )

The net income from online photo sales has not only covered cost but we are currently at $40.36 profit. We need someone to be responsible for the photo management portion of the service. Bob Adamek took photos this past fall. We will need a photographer for next year since Jack, Bob’s son, will be graduating this year. We could possibly recruit a Fine Arts photography student and J.R. is on board with that. Clark will contact Bob about uploading archived pics currently on the HHS Band web site.

Band Camp 2014 Fees

We are currently looking at an increase of approximately $25.00 per student with total cost being $150.00, with a discount offered to families with multiple children in marching band. The additional fees will provide funds to primarily cover food costs. We have a large influx (50+) of middle school students entering high school next year. We discussed ways that we can try to keep costs down (i.e., families donate food, funds, other goods, etc.). Other options would be to engage other vendors, services (i.e., the barbeque chicken guy) and offer free ad space in the program when we host the Shenandoah Valley Marching Invitational competition in the Fall. Paperwork will be distributed early (May/June) with plans to collect fees and deposit them after July 1, the beginning of the 2014-2015 state fiscal year.

A motion was made to raise the band fee to $150 per student (discounted to $100 for additional students in the same family). A vote was taken and passed.

Director Report (J.R. Snow)

Mr. Snow, Director of Bands, gave a recap of recent events - Va. Tech Honor Band, Tromblowin’, District V Regional Band hosted at HHS, the City/County even canceled because of inclement weather.

  • HHS had 12 students eligible to All-State Band
  • The upcoming school musical, Oklahoma! (mid February)
  • All-State auditions (end of February)
  • District Assessment (mid March)
  • Tiny Tots (mid March)
  • District Jazz Band (5 students from HHS participating)

Administration Update: Uniform purchase for 2014-2015 school year subsidized by Harrisonburg City Public Schools; however, we will still need funds to purchase instruments. HCPS administration (Dr. Kizner, Mr. Shaver, finance office) is being supportive. We will need approximately $100,000. We may have to investigate at alternatives for students to rent/rent-to-own their instruments from an outside source (Shen Valley). Mr. Snow will have additional information by April 1.

Director Report (Daniel Upton)

Mr. Upton, Percussion Director/Assistant Director of Bands, will be coordinating the Shenandoah Valley Marching Invitational for 2014.

Tentative Date: October 11, 2014 (one week before Parade of Champions marching competition at JMU)

Committee Chairs needed for the following:

  • Pit – Hector/Marty (FILLED)
  • Concessions – Labarges (FILLED)
  • Judge Hospitality – Brooke (includes special meal for judges) (FILLED)
  • Volunteer Coordinator
  • Registration – Amy Labarge (FILLED)
  • Parking / Gate / Stadium
  • Programs/Ads
  • Trophy Sponsorships

Fundraising (Annette)

  • JMU Women’s Basketball Game: We made $285 profit from working at the concession stand at the game. We are on the list to participate in 2015.
  • Applebee’s Pancake Breakfast: Scheduled for April 5. Annette has information regarding student volunteers. The cost per head is around $5.00 for pancakes only. We could possible get a sausage donation from a local business (Cargill). Volunteers/students arrive 7:45AM, breakfast 8-10AM. We can pre-sell up to 200 tickets max, some groups do raffles. Applebee’s will provide Annette a PDF of the tickets to copy. The student Leadership Team will be needed to get the word out, distribute the sign up sheet for volunteer servers. A few adults will need to oversee the door.

Uniforms (Lynn McGranahan)

Increased band camp fees will also go to cover to uniform costs for new students and to fill in sizes we currently don’t have. Specific items include coats, hats, plumes, raincoats, garment bags and gauntlets.

$11,600 has been approved by the city.

Concessions (Amy Labarge)

Amy is still working on our Costco account to move to Executive Membership. Amy to touch base with JR to sort out card assignment/permissions.

New Business (Clark Upton)

Ian Richard, Associate Director of Bands/Choirs, submitted a letter requesting that we consider subsidizing the cost of private lessons for a student learning a band “need-based” instrument (oboe) for the remainder of the school year. Rhonda Stees is willing to charge $20 for private lessons for the rest of the school year (approx. $400). Subsequent sponsorship for next year will be evaluated at the end of this school year. JR suggested taking funds from the summer scholarship fund. A motion was made and passed to fund student lessons from the summer scholarship fund.

Transportation (Hector Bosch & Marty Doss)

Would like to get some folks together before the end of the year and dedicate one or two work days to help with design/building to accommodate our increased space need for uniforms, percussion instruments (i.e., marimbas). We are also looking into to changing our truck-driving vendor for 2014.

Leadership for Next Year (Clark Upton)

Possible Slate

President – Open

Vice President – Greta Willis

Secretary – Brooke Blankenship

Treasurer – Louise Pierson/Michele Cavoto/Jackie Rohrer

Committee Chairs – Will be appointed after leadership slate is in place

Current Timeline

March: Submit nominations

April: Vote, start transition before the monthly June meeting.

Want to engage eighth grade parents before end of school year. Ice cream social, potluck, picnic.

Next meeting: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 7PM

Submitted by Brooke Blankenship